AUTHOR=Crespo-Picazo Jose L. , Parga Mariluz , Bernaldo de Quirós Yara , Monteiro Danielle , Marco-Cabedo Vicente , Llopis-Belenguer Cristina , García-Párraga Daniel 

TITLE=Novel Insights Into Gas Embolism in Sea Turtles: First Description in Three New Species

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00442

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2020.00442

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=<p>The recent finding of gas embolism (GE) and decompression sickness (DCS) in loggerhead sea turtles (<italic>Caretta caretta</italic>) in the Mediterranean Sea challenged the conventional understanding of marine vertebrate diving physiology. Additionally, it brought to light a previously unknown source of mortality associated with fisheries bycatch for this vulnerable species. In this paper, we use ultrasonography to describe GE in a leatherback sea turtle (<italic>Dermochelys coriacea</italic>), a green sea turtle (<italic>Chelonia mydas</italic>), and an olive ridley sea turtle (<italic>Lepidochelys olivacea</italic>) from accidental capture in a gillnet, bottom trawl, and pair-bottom trawl, respectively. This is the first description of this condition in these three species worldwide. These cases of GE suggest that this may be a threat faced by all sea turtle species globally.</p>